retiree

From the US Embassy website: As of April 10, 2023, the Embassy/Consulate will no longer issue passport linkage letters with newly issued passports. If a Thai government office requests one, your cancelled passport and your newly issued passport will suffice. https://th.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen-services/passports/adult-passport-renew/ Just the messenger, -- Retiree

I may have been asking the wrong question. Has anybody: -- tried to extend their retirement visa at CW, -- been asked for, but been unable to produce, a current 90-day report receipt, and -- either been allowed to extend despite not being up to date, or not allowed to extend because of it? -- or, know through some other means, that the 90-day report must be up-to-date for an extension per procedures currently being followed at CW? Thanks in advance, -- Retiree

Hmm, looks like DrJack54 and Celsius are not in agreement on this. Any idea why this might be? Celsius -- was it a retirement extension, and was your 90-day overdue (not reset by leaving / re-entering the country)?

Thanks, that was what I was trying to find out. I still have the old passport, so I'll do the 90-day + fine first, then transfer + extension mid-year (within the window for the next 90-day report on the new passport). The IM site does say that I must bring the new passport in person the first time to enable on-line reporting, but that I can send it via my trusty motorcycle driver. -- Retiree

I plan to apply for a new passport in the next few weeks. Then, mid-year, I'll transfer my current retirement extension, and apply for a new one, in a single trip to CW. Unfortunately, I just fell behind on my 90-day report -- I was focused on the passport renewal (and didn't get the automated 90-day reminder) and forgot to do it. Given my (haha) advanced age of about 70, is it possible that CW will let me do the transfer and extension on a single visit even though I'm a bit behind on the 90-day report (which I'll work out later that day, since I'll then have a valid passport with visa) ? Or is it more likely to be the worst-case scenario: they will transfer my current visa on one visit, tell me to go fix the 90-day report, and require another trip for the retirement extension? Thanks for any advice (and yes, because of age / health I'm trying to avoid trips to CW). -- Retiree

Try Nizoral cream (Ketoconazole), any pharmacy. Anal yeast infections are a common fungal infection caused by a yeast called Candida. Symptoms include an intense itching sensation around your anus called pruritus ani. Treatment includes antifungal creams, ointments or suppositories. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/22907-anal-yeast-infection The most common cause of occasional anal itching (pruritus ani) is a fungus/yeast infection. ... It is frequently worse at night. https://hemorrhoidcentersamerica.com/anal-rectal-problems/anal-itching/

Question for somebody with a Schwab International account (if you happen to know, or if it's ever convenient to ask). Schwab sells a variety of immediate annuities. Typically payment continues to a beneficiary if the annuitant dies. Will they accept a Thai beneficiary who has no US address or bank? Thanks, -- Retiree

It wasn't the installation crew's fault; they were competent and would have replaced the cable section if necessary. Accidents happen -- I think one of the building staff came in to check progress, and inadvertently shut the door without realizing it was dangling through. -- Retiree

The US (and UK) the last two years had peak hospitalizations mid-January, so infections a bit earlier. And I think December is historically the top month for tourist arrivals. "Winter" hasn't been a peak season for Covid in Thailand, but with loosened controls this year ... -- Retiree. https://news.google.com/covid19/map?hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US%3Aen&state=1&mid=%2Fm%2F09c7w0

Oh, I've just seen a number of posts were people seemed concerned that stepping on the fiber, or having ethernet cable < CAT 6, would interfere with their speed. Wasn't my experience. -- Retiree

Quick report on True fiber installation in my apartment building. The door somehow shut on the cable while they were setting up, crimping it about 90 degrees between the door and the header stop (that narrow board under the top jamb). Not a super-tight fit, but the plastic/metal fiber casing was definitely crimped. Long story short: the cable guy said "no biggie." He was right. I'm also using CAT 5e cable inside -- again, no problem getting over 500 Mbps as advertised. The only problem I had was that my ethernet cable clicked, but apparently didn't seat properly, in a D-Link switch I use for a couple of desktops. I got 500+ at first, then only a very consistent <100 when I rechecked a few hours later. WiFi was hitting 400+, though, so I ran the drill of unplugging and re-plugging everything, which fixed it. -- Retiree

Just chiming in here. Had my first Moderna booster mid-February (8.5 months ago), but I've been putting off getting the second while hospitalizations rates have been very low in Thailand. I am going to get the second booster now, because: a) it's available walk-in through the 31st Oct at Bamrungrad (900B), b) it will give me that extra bit of protection for the next few months -- through the peak Covid season, if there is one this year. -- Retiree

Quadrivalent flu shot is B 349 at the Travel Clinic in Bangkok. Aetna (formerly Blue Cross) offers me one free every year at many hospitals (30 in Bangkok) from 25 May through end October this year (I have in-patient coverage only, which ought'a tell you something). -- Retiree

And I was surprised to learn a while back that even deep wells can have problems if Mother Nature is of a mind. This is a report on the well-known problem of excessively high levels of fluoride in some shallow and deep wells in Chiang Mai and Lamphun. https://www.academia.edu/21014373/Fluoride_in_the_Water_Resources_of_Northern_Thailand_Source_Transport_Distribution_and_Water_Management_Implications

How long Zostavax "lasts" is really a moving target. This study extends early 1-4 and 5-6 year studies out to 11 years. It also looks at burden of illness (BOI); i.e. how nasty is shingles if you get it. It concludes that there's some protection against the disease for 8 years, and a reduction of burden for 10 years: https://academic.oup.com/cid/article/60/6/900/496651 The money shot is the three tables in Figure 3. Yes, efficacy declines, but the confidence interval that might also indicate an "average" gets wider and wider. This means that mileage may vary, and may be dependent on some secondary factor the analysis didn't tease out. Re availability, the below says that Shingrix production takes 6-9 months. Given shortages even in major countries through 2019, followed by Covid-19, it's not surprising GSK might slow down applying for Shingrix approvals around the world: https://www.fiercepharma.com/pharma/glaxosmithkline-shingrix-shortage-expected-to-persist-throughout-2019-cdc-says -- Retiree

And the winner is ... Magnolia half cream (115B/quart from Tops). Tastes just like old-fashioned Half & Half squeezed from red-blooded American cows -- smooths the coffee but doesn't add its own peculiar flavor. Definitely (ordinary) pasteurized, but not clear if it's been homogenized. And there's no ingredient analysis on the carton or website; just says Low fat fresh cream made from fresh milk. Carton is marked Best by ... one month from purchase date, and says consume within 48 hours after opening, which seems short. I assume it will last a week or two in the fridge. Science beckons! -- Retiree

I'm usually happy with VPN Unlimited (KeepSolid) for Prime / Netflix US / NFL. There are cheap lifetime deals for them out there (5 devices about $50, I think). The streaming services do block for a bit a few times each year until the VPN finds a workaround; seems unavoidable. -- Retiree

I recently got the Mazuma stainless guy. Works excellently. I think the zero-force knobs will probably go longer than my previous Turbora (which only lasted 20 years or so). No, you can't easily re-route the drinking water spigot on it, though. Maintenance is much cheaper long term than the plastic cartridge guys. https://mazuma.co.th/en/product/m3f3-uf/ -- Retiree

Yes and yes. I got the Oldenburger UHT Whipping Cream 200g from Tops (on sale at 95B for 2x200 ml containers -- note that 200ml is less than half a pint, so about 225B/quart). Arrived cold, container says good for 1 month. But ... even just a bit to lighten the coffee tastes like the cream you get in little unrefrigerated liquid cream portions at conferences, and apparently in Switzerland. I may start having my recurring nightmare about missing connecting flights again. Next tests will be Barefoot's suggestion -- Magnolia half cream (115B/quart) and/or whipping cream (189B/quart). -- Retiree

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Teapot Extra brand seems to be one of those "creamers" that consists mostly of sugar and palm oil, with a little bit of milk powder. https://bulky.my/products/teapot-sweetened-creamer-500g

Aha, so that's why the supermarket mangoes look so great, always wondered. But I get the impression that bagging is a standard part of the high-quality mango business, e.g.: https://www.daily-sun.com/printversion/details/612882/Benefits-of-Mango-Fruit-Bagging-Technology Was this something that only became clear late in the game on your farm? Also, a bit curious -- what was your pre-investment estimate of low and high mango price ranges?

I hate to be the one who points this out, but the same mutations that create more or less lethal Covid-19 variants also occur during human cell replication and repair -- every so often, a repair makes things worse Fortunately, animals generally rely on DNA, which is a lot more robust than the RNA that powers viruses. In effect, strands of DNA are proofread, and double-proofread, and then checked again -- RNA isn't. Nearly all of our errors are fixed, whereas many errors in virus RNA actually kill that bit of virus. Still, errors occur; hence cancer, reduced immune response, and all the other cumulative burdens of aging. This is a good overview of all the problems that occur in people, and the reasons that even the healthiest / luckiest folks rarely go far past 90. https://www.age.mpg.de/healthy-ageing/how-and-why-do-we-age I should also note that some human mutations are helpful, including resistance to HIV-AIDS, and the ability to digest milk in adulthood (which is believed to have only spread in the past 10,000 years), see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutation more on mutation in general https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactase_persistence ability to digest lactose in adulthood in particular Unfortunately, humans can't mutate fast enough to stay ahead of rabies, typhoid, bubonic plague, and all the others, to say nothing of the myriad of diseases, including Covid-19, pneumonia, and the common cold, that affect the lungs and sometimes disable or kill us. If surviving the disease confers immunity -- as with measles, or even smallpox -- great. But that doesn't appear to be entirely the case for, say, the different causes of pneumonia*, or the several major variant causes of Covid-19. -- Retiree * The latest pneumonia vaccine, PPSV23, "contains polysaccharide antigen from 23 types of pneumococcal bacteria .... 25 µg of each antigen per dose" https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd/pneumo/hcp/about-vaccine.html

It has been pointed out repeatedly that: - mutation is random, - with more mutations lethality could increase, even if less contagious, - with greater contagion rate, even a less lethal variant could sicken and kill more people. See thread beginning with:

Uhh ... 73,288 Total Cases 72,428 in locations that have not historically reported monkeypox (102 countries) 860 in locations that have historically reported monkeypox (7 countries) https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/response/2022/world-map.html https://worldhealthorg.shinyapps.io/mpx_global/

I see your Goliath, and raise you David. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survival_of_the_fittest While the phrase "survival of the fittest" is often used to mean "natural selection", it is avoided by modern biologists, because the phrase can be misleading. For example, survival is only one aspect of selection, and not always the most important. Another problem is that the word "fit" is frequently confused with a state of physical fitness. In the evolutionary meaning "fitness" is the rate of reproductive output among a class of genetic variants. Perhaps I can recommend the many works of the late Stephen Jay Gould, who wrote extensively about the role of accidental and sometimes unhelpful variations in evolution; see e.g. Ever Since Darwin (1977) and The Panda's Thumb (1980), as well as Richard Dawkins's The Selfish Gene (1976). You may also be interested in the problem of runaway selection, discussed below, and in books like Richard Prum's The Evolution of Beauty (2017): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisherian_runaway The plumage dimorphism of the peacock and peahen of the species within the genus Pavo is a prime example of the ornamentation paradox that has long puzzled evolutionary biologists; Darwin wrote in 1860: The sight of a feather in a peacock’s tail, whenever I gaze at it, makes me sick![7] The peacock's colorful and elaborate tail requires a great deal of energy to grow and maintain. It also reduces the bird's agility, and may increase the animal's visibility to predators. The tail appears to lower the overall fitness of the individuals who possess it. Yet, it has evolved, indicating that peacocks who have longer and more colorfully elaborate tails have some advantage over peacocks who do not. Fisherian runaway posits that the evolution of the peacock tail is made possible if peahens have a preference to mate with peacocks that possess a longer and more colourful tail. -- Retiree